Hello everybody and welcome back to the Cognixia podcast. We hope you are enjoying listening to our weekly episodes and have been able to learn something new from them.
In this week’s episode, we examine how there is a growing shortage of enterprise developers and how that is pushing up the demand for automation and low code platforms. So, keep listening.
Organizations are increasingly setting ambitious digital transformation goals to stay ahead in the market and make the most of the advances in technology. This is leading to enterprise developer facing severe burnout and exhaustion. Hiring new engineering expertise comes with unique challenges as the skills gap is growing wider and wider with time. So, how should one achieve their digital transformation goals?
A new survey by Salesforce’s MuleSoft has discovered that this issue could be combatted by ‘empowering the wider workforce to take some strain away from the developers’. To do this, one may need to empower non-developers with the ability to develop. This is where low code platforms and IT automation can be introduced to help enterprises.
According to the same survey, the top-most factor that is causing this developer burnout would be the increasing workload and the demands made of the developers from the other teams that they work with. A huge 39% of the individuals who participated in the survey stated that this was the top reason for the burnout. 37% of the individuals also felt that the pressures of the digital transformation goals of the organization were causing the developers to feel burnt out. 35% of the respondents also opined that they had been struggling to learn the skills that they were required to have to work with new technologies & approaches that the organization implements.
Interestingly, in the same Mulesoft survey, it was found that 76% of the organizations surveyed felt, that “the cognitive load that is required to learn the software architecture is so high that it is a source of angst and low productivity for developers”.
Now, before we get all angry with the developers for not delivering high productivity and outstanding results every time, we first need to understand how the role of the developer has evolved in the past few years. As technologies advanced, we loaded up our developers with every task and responsibility to learn the new developments and get going on implementing them in the enterprise so the company wouldn’t fall behind. Be it new frameworks, new databases, new database management systems, new programming languages, or anything else, we expected developers to learn it all and implement it in the enterprise. And they have. developer always remained on their toes, imbibing every new skill, embracing every new development, and ensuring things functioned as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. However, this has led to the current times where the pressure we’ve put on the developers is catching up with them and causing this burnout. This is causing the developers to move toward avoiding ‘purpose-built’ options and seek more general-purpose options. If we look closely, this is also where enterprises began focusing on removing the developer complexity from the internal platforms that the enterprises were using. It was understood that this would essentially lead to better productivity as the developers’ options would then be limited, the efforts would be more focused on the only options available, and everything would work out for the better.
One way to achieve this is to use low code tools. By using low code tools, one could make the domain of software development go beyond just developers and usher in the ‘business technologists’ to join the bandwagon and help reduce the load we have put on the developers.
Now, you must be wondering who are ‘business technologists’?
Well, business technologists are individuals who are not traditionally a part of the IT teams but can still play an active role in helping the enterprise achieve its digital transformation goals. Now, this idea can meet with quite some skepticism, like how can one even suggest that people with no formal IT training or background be allowed to play a role in the IT teams’ tasks and that too with something as complex as development. But, we say, if that helps reduce the load of the developer while helping the enterprise effectively and efficiently utilize its resource as well as meet its digital transformation goals, why not?
Going back to the same Mulesoft survey, you will be surprised to know that a whopping 90% of the organizations surveyed said they find this idea to be very useful and ingenious. They have opined that bringing in the business technologists to perform tasks like integrating apps and data, etc. would significantly help ease the load on the developers. Not just this, about 70% of the respondents even said they already had plans in place to implement this in their organization but they also opined that they would encounter quite some challenges along the way.
Some of the major challenges in implementing this idea would be:
- Challenges in managing the integrations across multiple cloud platforms without the support of specialist IT skills
- Not enough automation in the software development domain
- Existence of staunch data silos
- Challenges with governance and security
- Unavailability or limited access to lightweight tooling
Now, let us tell you about the findings of another study. This study conducted by Forrester found that about 10-15% of the surveyed enterprises are already using low code platforms like Unqork. Yet another study by Gartner has predicted that 65% of all the app development functions taking place in an organization will be performed by low code platforms by the year 2024.
With all the findings of these studies and surveys, you can understand that low code platforms could change the way the IT teams, especially the development function take place in an enterprise. It doesn’t exactly take intensive exhausting training for a non-IT background individual to take the plunge as a business technologist. However, a little training can always be helpful for the individuals and the organization. And this is where Cognixia aims to help everyone. Our live online instructor-led DevOps training and certification program is just what you need to brush up on the fundamentals and learn all about the important tools, frameworks, best practices, etc. which can get you started in the field of software and application development. The course is designed by industry experts focusing on hands-on learning to ensure you are fully equipped with all the skills and knowledge you need for your role in the organization. So, do go to our website and check the course out.
And with that, we come to the end of this week’s podcast episode. Until next week then, happy learning!
